SOCI0077: Media, Culture and Communication in Contemporary China

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SOCI0077 Media, Culture and Communication in
Contemporary China

• Week 6 Lecture
• Dr. L. Cho, PhD
• E-mail Lifcho_at_gmail.com

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Announcements

• Tutorials This Week
• Return Essay 1
• Handout Essay 2 topics
• Sign-up for presentation time slots

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Tutorial 5 Internet and Cultural Democracy

• View
• American Idol and Super Girl
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vvcidkjw8X5kfeature
  related
• Danwei TV phenomenon
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v0KVkKZRDYAc
•  Discuss
• Zhu Dake, a renowned critic of cultural matters
  says Chinas Super Girl show blazed a trail for
  cultural democracy." Do you agree or disagree and
  why? Do you feel shows like Super Girl can foster
  political demands for democracy or is the media
  empowering consumers, not citizens?
• Readings
• http//zonaeuropa.com/20050829_1.htm

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The Internet and New Dynamics of Popular Protest

• Week 6 Lecture
• Dr. L. Cho, PhD
• E-mail Lifcho_at_gmail.com

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Demographics of Users

• Connectivity Established in 1995
• Two-thirds of Internet users are 30 years or
  younger
• Nearly 80 are under 35
• Approximately 90 Internet users have at least
  high school diploma
• More than 60 attended college

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Growth of Internet Users
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What is the implication of this growth?
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Internet as a Tool for Developing Chinas Civil
Society

• How has the Internet altered the interaction
  between state and society through popular protest
  (collective action)?
• How does Internet-led popular protests actually
  come about in China?

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Civil Society Elements

• Un-coerced, autonomous, individuals
• Engage in collective action around shared values,
  interests and purpose
• In a public sphere that is outside immediate
  control of the state and market, but not
  contained within private sphere of the family

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Examples of Civil Society

• Charities, non-governmental organizations (NGO),
  community groups, women's organizations,
  religious organizations, professional
  associations, trade unions, self-help groups,
  business associations, coalitions and advocacy
  groups
• Non-state led civil organizations

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Theory Public Sphere

• Formulated by German Philosopher and Sociologist
  Jürgen Habermas
• Public is composed of individuals who engages
  in rational debate
• Held in spaces where the public may freely meet
  to discuss and articulate problems

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Examples of Public Sphere

• Coffee houses, pubs, as well as medium like
  newspapers, books, and now, the internet
• Civil society based on the concept of public
  sphere
• Fostered public debates
• Problem articulation
• Acquire Information
• Potential to play a watchdog role

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Analytical Framework

• Internet as a tool for
• Communication
• Public Space
• Collective Action (or popular protest)

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Reasons for Going Online
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Information Searched For
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Public Space

• Bulletin Board Sites (BBS,)
• Non-political websites (e.g. martial arts) to
  talk about politics
• Websites run by government authorities (e.g.
  Strong Nation Forum)

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Internet and Collective Action

• Does the internet encourage civic engagement or
  does it isolate people from society?

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Internet and Group Identity
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Collective Action

• There is a gap between information acquisition
  and civic participation
• So how does collective action actually take place
  in China?

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Internet Use Increase Understanding of Politics
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Possible Reasons

• Other countries have other channels to express
  their opinions and to participate in politics
• In China, internet becomes one of the single most
  important avenue to engage in civic activities.

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Able to Have More Say
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Case 1Protest Over Murder of Beijing
University Student

• Facts
• In May 2000, Beijing University student Qiu
  Qingfeng was raped and killed while returning to
  one of Beidas satellite campuses
• Students were prevented from organizing mourning
  demonstrations activities in response to the
  incident.
• Beijing University officials prevented
  information on the murder from becoming public
• On May 23, the news was posted on Beida Zaixian
  Website (Beijing University on Line) and a BBS
  called Yitahutu (in a Muddled State) Beidas
  popular Triangle BBS

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Beijing University Protest

• BBS Viewing skyrocketed from than 700 to 12,000
• News spread to other University BBS and forums
  hosted by Sohu.com.
• Students presented demands to school officials,
  they encouraged fellow students to organize
  protest activities
• All happening in near-real time
• The University officials relented and allowed
  public mourning service to be held
• Memorial web site established in honor of the
  student
• The website reportedly received over 24,000 hits
  by late May 2000

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2003 SARS Epidemic

• Nov 2002 First case occurred in Guangdong Province

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International Media Got Involved

• SARS spread globally
• International community (especially those in
  Asia) were angry
• E-mail, sms, and other internet based
  communication continued to circulate despite
  media suppression in China
• Retired military doctor Jiang Yanyong wrote an
  open letter to the CCP about the real situation
• April 4th he sent the letter to CCTV 4 and
  Phoenix TV (HK). Neither replied.
• Letter was leaked to the Western press
• April 8th New York Times published the letter
  translated
• April 21st Mayor of Beijing and Minister of
  Public Health forced to resign

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Case 3The Death of Sun Zhigang

• On March 20, 2003, 27 year old Young fashion
  designer seeking employment in Guangzhou
• Detained by local police for not carrying proper
  ID
• Dead in police custody 3 days later
• Case first reported by Southern Metropolis Daily
• Quickly spread through the internet
• Detention centers that were originally
  established in 1982 to house vagrants and beggars
  were abolished
• First time one civilian death caused the repeal
  of a state regulation

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Case 4Death of 3 Year Old Li Siyi

• In June 2004, Li Yaling, of Chengdu Commercial
  Daily, one of western Chinas most successful
  newspapers
• Investigated a story concerning a drug-addicted
  mother whose 3 year old toddler died at home of
  starvation as local police kept the woman in a
  detox centre
• The police failed to follow through on the
  womans pleas to contact her family to go look
  after the child
• The story was suppressed by her newspaper
• Reporter Li posted the entire story on Reporters
  Home BBS, including her name and contact
  information
• The story was quickly picked up by other media
  outlets and reported widely
• In mid-October, Reporter Li was transferred to
  the dailys archive department

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Case 5Nail House Case in Chongqing

• For two years, one family (among 280 others)
  refused to vacate a home their family had
  inhabited for three generations in Chongqing
• Developers were constructing a six-story shopping
  mall in its place
• The owners turned down an offer of 3.5 million
  yuan (US453,000)
• Developers cut their power and water, and
  excavated a 10-meter deep pit around their home.
• The owners Yang Wu, broke into the construction
  site, reoccupied it, and flew a Chinese flag on
  top.
• His wife Wu Ping granted interviews and frequent
  press releases to generate publicity.
• The owners eventually settled with the developers
  in 2007 for an undisclosed price .

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Nail House Case

• The Chongqing incident was called "coolest nail
  house in history" by a blogger
• Picked up by major media outlets, including
  state-run newspapers, and became a national
  sensation
• Sina.com polls show 85 of respondents supported
  the couple rather than the developers.
• The Chinese government forbade newspapers from
  reporting on the event
• A blogger and vegetable vendor Zhou Shuquang
  traveled over 300 miles (over 500 kilometers) by
  train from Hunan province to Chongqing to cover
  the incident
• Funded by donations from his readers
• Zhou interviewed the participants and the crowds
  that had gathered and others who claimed to have
  been evicted from their homes.
• Zhou is popularly referred to as China's first
  "citizen journalist writing under the pen name
  zola

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Case 6Bingdian Weekly Journal

• May 24, 2004, State-run China Youth Daily enacted
  a reporter bonus system based on how much praise
  articles received from government officials,
• Lu Yuegang, an editor of the newspapers popular
  supplement Freezing Point posted a protest on the
  companys internal computer network
• Within hours, details of the plan were all over
  the Internet, prompting a red-faced Propaganda
  Department to scramble to purge all website
  references
• The officials later dropped their plan
• January 2006, Freezing Point was shut down for
  printing an article on Chinese history that
  challenged party orthodoxy
• Dozens of scholars signed petitions in support
  of Editor Li Datong, who promptly filed a legal
  challenge over the publications
  threatened closure
• Cultural critic Lung Yingtai wrote a open letter
  addressed to President Hu Jintao in protest
• Li was ultimately replaced by a more compliant
  editor, but he was not imprisoned, as many had
  expected, and continues to speak his mind in
  interviews with the foreign media.

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Internet Control Continues

• Regulations come from the Central government
• However, each province has significant amount of
  control
• City government has local autonomy
• Variation in policy, regulation, service and price

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Digital Divide Continues

• China
• Users heavily concentrated in the coase Beijing,
  Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong
• 1.9 of 33.7 users are peasants or farmers
• Roughly 60 users are male, 40 female

• U.S.
• 143 million Americans (54 of the population)
• Compared with 33.7 million Chinese (2.8 of the
  population)

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Million Dollar Question

• Will the Internet bring Democracy to China? Can
  it ultimately challenge the State?

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Conclusion

• Internet has altered the dynamic between the
  government and society
• More issues are discussed domestically as well as
  globally
• Increased and faster communication
• Incerased political liberalization

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References

• Yang, Guobin. 2003. The internet and civil
  society in China preliminary assessment.
  Journal of Contemporary China 12(36)453-475.
  Available online.
• Zheng, Yongnian and Wu Guoguang. 2005.
  Information technology, public space, and
  collective action in China. Comparative
  Political Studies 38(5)507-536. Available
  online.
• Chase, Michael S. and James C. Mulvenon
  Political Use of the Internet in You've Got
  Dissent! Chinese Dissident Use of the Internet
  and Beijing's Counter-Strategies . Available at
  http//www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1543/
  MR1543.ch1.pdf
• Cheung, Anne SY. 2006. "Public Opinion
  Supervision - A Case Study of Media Freedom in
  China" (September 8). bepress Legal Series.
  Working Paper 1717. Available athttp//law.bepre
  ss.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article8080contextex
  presso